II.
A PRECOGNITION OF THE PRESENT.
"As often as."
1. It is manifest from the solemnity of its inauguration, and from the singular reverence with which it was regarded by the early Christians, that the Lord's Supper was not intended to be a thing of one generation, but to be a precious and hallowed memorial to the end of time. So broad and deep was the im- pression of its perpetual obligation that in every age of the Church, alike when it was crushed by persecution, and when it had degenerated into worldly alliance and conformity, the con- tinuity of this great festival sustained no interruption ; it remained in general acknowledgment through all external changes. This perpetuity of the Sacrament seems to stamp it as a confirming ordinance — confirming man's faith in God, confirming God's fidelity to man.
2. These symbols were appointed to be for a remembrance of Christ in order that, remembering Him, we might renew our fellowship with Him. In the Holy Sacrament there is not a mere representation of Christ or a bare commemoration of events in which we are interested; there is also an actual, present communion between Christ and the soul.
We may not climb the heavenly steeps
To bring the Lord Christ down: In vain we search the lowest deeps,
For Him no depths can drown.
Nor holy bread, nor blood of grape,
The. lineaments restore Of Him we know in outward shape
And in the flesh no more. 1 W. H. Book.
330 PROCLAIMING THE LORD'S DEATH
He cometh not a king to reign;
The world's long hope is dim; The weary centuries watch in vain
The clouds of heaven for Him.
Death comes, life goes; the asking eye
And ear are answerless; The grave is dumb, the hollow sky
Is sad with silentness.
The letter fails, and systems fall,
And every symbol wanes ; The Spirit over-brooding all
Eternal Love remains.
And not for signs in heaven above
Or earth below they look, Who know with John His smile of love,
With Peter His rebuke.
In joy of inward peace, or sense
Of sorrow over sin, He is His own best evidence,
His witness is within.
No fable old, nor mythic lore,
Nor dream of bards and seers, No dead fact stranded on the shore
Of the oblivious years; —
But warm, sweet, tender, even yet
A present help is He ; And faith has still its Olivet,
And love its Galilee.1
3. There are three distinct things that stare us in the face here : first, the advent of our Lord in the days of His humiliation ; secondly, the coming advent of our Lord in His glory; and between the two, a distinctive sacramental rite — " As often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup " (that is, in this present), " ye proclaim the Lord's death " (that is, in that past) " till he come " (that is, in the anticipation of that future). Now, we may be certain of this, that this is not a mere artificial arrangement ; there must
1 Whittier.
i CORINTHIANS xi. 26 331
be something in the Sacrament which makes it fit to stand between the advent consummated in Christ's redemptive death and the advent of His coming glory. What is that connecting thing? The o*ie thing that marks out the Sacrament as being what it is amidst Christian rites, is that, in a special sense, it is the sphere of our Lord's presence. Our Lord's presence and His humanity are revealed to us under three distinct conditions. First, He has been present in the days of His historical life under conditions of bodily humiliation. Secondly, He will be present after His second coming under conditions of glorification. But between these two conditions He is present with His people in a spiritual manner.
TJ How deep is our obligation to our own Liturgy for bringing out so distinctly, through the means of Holy Communion, the reality of Christ's spiritual presence, and the verity of our communion with Him in this Holy Sacrament. It has preserved for us the true doctrine in this particular as perfectly as it has done justice to the truth first considered, namely, the memorial of the death of Christ. For instance, " He hath given His Son our Saviour Jesus Christ not only to die for us, but also to be our spiritual food and sustenance in that Holy Sacrament " ; — " For as the benefit is great, if with a true penitent heart and lively faith we receive that Holy Sacrament (for then we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ, and drink His blood ; then we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us ; we are one with Christ, and Christ with us), so is the danger great, if we receive the same unworthily. Grant us, therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of Thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink His blood, that our sinful bodies may be made clean by His body, and our souls washed through His most precious blood, and that we may evermore dwell in Him, and He in us " — " Almighty and everliving God, we most heartily thank Thee, for that Thou dost vouchsafe to feed us, who have duly received these holy mysteries, with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of Thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ ; and dost assure us thereby of Thy favour and goodness towards us ; and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of Thy Son, which is the blessed company of all faithful people." *